Ground was broken Friday morning on a 45-home development planned for the former Cresthaven Country Club site in Whitestone in a ceremony attended by officials, community leaders and real estate power players.

“I think we’re looking at a really successful project,” said project leader Tim O’Sullivan, who added that he expected construction to be completed in around three years. The site has also been used by the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) as a summer day camp which O’Sullivan himself had attended as a child.

O’Sullivan purchased the 6-acre lot with Fulcrum Real Estate Advisors in an April 10 foreclosure auction for $13.6 million, and will be developing the site with his family construction company, O’Sullivan Builders and Developers.

Great Neck-based architect Frank Petruso is designing the project, which is to be called The Bridges at Whitestone and includes 45 single-family homes with a range of 2,000 to 3,800 square feet . All of the units will have four bedrooms, at least three full bathrooms and two-story foyers with marble flooring.

Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty has been retained for exclusive marketing and sales rights of the homes.

The first phase of the project’s construction will see an initial buildout of 13 homes, and the construction of a private road dubbed “Sullivan Drive” is also planned for the center of the site.

Assemblyman Ed Braunstein remarked on the outpouring of support the project has received from the Whitestone community.

“Whenever we have a large open space like this for development in northeast Queens, everybody immediately gets very nervous,” Braunstein said.“It’s very refreshing to have someone from the community come in, because people realize that you understand what’s appropriate for this neighborhood.”

Community Board 7 First Vice Chairperson Chuck Apelian said that O’Sullivan has been more trustworthy than other developers who make arrangements with the board and do not hold up their end of the deal.